


Bless You

by WeeooWeeoo



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: But before season 2, Found Family, Gen, I was just in a mood to write useless fluff, Sickfic, and just like any other sickfic you've ever read before, and sappy, idk - Freeform, it's fluffy, not really sure where this is in the timeline, probably somewhere after season 1, shiro whump, space dad needed some cuddles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-28
Updated: 2017-10-28
Packaged: 2019-01-25 09:54:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12528688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WeeooWeeoo/pseuds/WeeooWeeoo
Summary: “What… just happened?” She seemed bewildered, hands raised as if to help, but she wasn’t sure how.Shiro chuckled “Do Alteans not sneeze?”





	Bless You

Shiro’s alarm blared off to the right side of his bed, each shrill beep dragging him reluctantly out of an unusually deep sleep by hammering nail after nail into his sensitive temples. He shut it off and practically sighed in relief. He squinted at the numbers, a little confused. Usually, Shiro was awake at least 20 minutes before his alarm ever had a chance to go off. He only used it as a precautionary measure, most of the time having turned it off long before it was actually time for him to get up. He shrugged it off as good fortune until he actually tried to stand.

The pain in his temples he’d mostly been ignoring up until now flared. He was awake enough now to notice that actually his whole face hurt, skin sensitive and slightly swollen. Trying to take a deep breath in, he grimaced at the tell-tale clog in his nose. He was sick. Or getting there anyways. He groaned. Shiro didn’t have time for this. 

He shuffled to the bathroom and sighed at his reflection. He didn’t look great. He didn’t think the swelling was noticeable, but he made sure to press on his sinuses in an attempt to relieve the pain and dislodge the stuffiness. He blew his nose hard and although he filled up 2 wads of toilet paper, the blockage didn’t seem to let up at all. 

He washed his face, got dressed, took a few deep breaths through his mouth, stuffed some tissues in his pocket and headed out to breakfast. The only other person who got up at this time was Hunk. 

“Good morning” Shiro cleared his throat. That came out a little mangled, but Hunk didn’t seem to notice. 

“Mornin’ Shiro” Hunk said over his shoulder, staying facing the task at hand. “Hope you like French toast. I found this weird grain stuff and managed to make some bread with it yesterday, and last time we resupplied I found this spice that kind of tastes like spicy cinnamon? It’s pretty good”. 

“Sounds great Hunk.” Or it would, except Shiro truthfully did not feel like attempting to eat anything. He grabbed a mug and filled it with the Altean equivalent of coffee, which was more green than brown and really tasted more like raspberry tea than anything else. But it was hot, and Shiro’s ragged senses thanked him desperately for it. Other than the sizzling on the stove, they both sat in silence, as per usual. Shiro was always grateful for it, the quiet companionship on the slow mornings aboard the castleship, but this morning it was a boon. He attempted to read his tablet, but noticed quickly he was just staring at the screen without absorbing any of the information on it. He could feel how heavy his eyelids were so he blinked them hard and downed the rest of his coffee. He got up to refill his cup as Allura and Lance showed up at relatively the same time. 

“Wow, something smells great Hunk!” Lance bounced in and placed his hands on Hunk’s shoulders. 

Lance always seemed to have twice the energy of anyone else in the morning. Usually it helped wake everyone up a little and get the conversation going on a good note, but today Shiro fought the urge to cringe. The volume of Lance’s cheeriness sent little pinpricks through his throbbing head. 

As Hunk and Lance chattered away about the food and whatever else, Shiro sat and Allura slid into the seat next to him. 

“Morning Princess.” Allura smiled at him and rubbed her eyes. 

“Good morning to you too Shiro.” Her soft accent was still heavy with sleep. “Did you sleep well?”

“Uh, yeah actually. I slept very…” Shiro rubbed at his nose trying to stifle what he felt coming, but it was no good. “ _ Ahitssh’ _ !” He covered his face with the crook of his elbow. That hurt. 

“Bless you!” Lance and Hunk paused whatever they were talking about to toss a glance at Shiro and then picked up the conversation right away. 

Shiro sniffled, taking one of the tissues from his pocket and using it discretely. “Thanks. Sorry Princess, what was I saying?” He looked back at her to see her shocked expression. 

“What… just happened?” She seemed bewildered, hands raised as if to help, but she wasn’t sure how. 

Shiro chuckled “Do Alteans not sneeze?”

She shook her head.

“Well, human noses can be sensitive. If there’s a strong smell, or anything really bothering them, our bodies try to expel it by sneezing” He tried to explain. The whole crew had gotten used to trying to explain things that they had never had to explain before. 

“Oh...Interesting.” Allura looked amused and a little grossed out “And, what is the meaning of “bless you”?” She and Coran were always trying to pick up and adhere to the paladins little phrases and human mannerisms like “good morning” and “bless you”. It was really very nice of them to attempt, especially since most of the Alteans mannerisms were so niche and foreign the paladins had a much harder time picking them up.

“Oh, in English it’s polite to say after someone sneezes” 

“Why?”

“Uh…” Shiro scratched his chin. “I’m not sure”

“Actually, they used to believe that when you sneezed, your soul left your body for a second so people would say “God bless you”” Hunk chimed in, turning and setting plates in front of them. “That’s the myth anyways” He shrugged. 

Allura still looked perplexed but seemed to push it aside as just one of those strange human things and picked up her spork. 

Keith shuffled into the kitchen, showered and awake. Shiro suspected he had gone on a run before showing up. 

“Good morning Keith” everyone said with varying levels of enthusiasm. 

“What smells good?” Keith peered curiously while he filled his own mug of coffee. 

“Dude, Hunk made us French toast” Lance practically jumped up and down in his seat as he filled his own plate. 

Even Keith smiled. “French toast? How?” 

Hunk launched into his explanation and description of the process while everyone around the table began groaning in pleasure as they tasted the food. 

It probably was good. But Shiro only managed about three-fourths of his plate out of courtesy to Hunk more than actually being hungry enough for it, and everything on it tasted pretty bland and cardboardy to his shot senses. He hoped no one noticed, but as he took his plate up he saw Keith narrow his eyes at him. 

As he sat back down, Keith leaned over slightly. “Hey,” He said it quietly, not drawing unnecessary attention “What’s up? French toast is like your favorite”. 

Shiro shrugged, and Keith narrowed his eyes at him more, not quite buying it, but letting it slide. Shiro tried not to sigh in relief. Pidge eventually dragged herself into the kitchen, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders, dragging slightly behind her and filling up a coffee cup without even acknowledging their greetings just yet. She was always the last to get up and the longest to pull into the fully-waking world. 

He was aware he was being a little quieter than usual, pretending to be paying attention to what was being said around the table, but unable to really focus. Every once in awhile one of them would goad him for a response, usually Lance, but they mostly left him alone. He was grateful.

That is until just as they were getting up to get ready for daily training, a sneeze caught Shiro off guard. And another one, and another… 

“AKSH’shh! EstCH’CH! isSHTCH!” The involuntary fit concluded with an equally involuntary small groan. That hurt, a lot. He squeezed his eyes shut against the throbbing pain and tried to regain his balance with one hand on the table, his head spinning gently. 

“Bless you!” He could hear the whole team chorus on their way out the door. The whole team except Keith, who was now standing next to him glaring concernedly. 

Shiro took a deep breath, fought the urge to sniffle and stood up straight. “Ready for training? Come on, go get your armor” He said it as composedly as he could and started to follow the others. 

Keith’s hand caught his arm and before Shiro could react, had a palm pressed to his forehead. Shiro stiffened slightly. Keith grimaced. “Hm. No fever. But you should take it easy during training”. 

“Keith, I’m fine” Shiro put on his most convincing “fine” voice, but Keith just rolled his eyes and shook his head, walking out of the room. 

Shiro sighed and rubbed his face before following him.

~ 

Training started off okay, but Shiro was the leader, and as the tactical difficulty of the exercises rose, so did Shiro’s inability to properly focus. He could feel the team morale depleting after each hit and loss they received. His fault.

He berated himself. It was just a stupid cold. He would not let a stupid cold add bruises to his already worn team. He pushed himself harder, trying to collect his thoughts and keep them working together in the seamless way he knew they could achieve,  _ had _ achieved before. 

It didn’t work.

“Uh,” Lance called out, rubbing his side where a bot had just zapped him hard. “Not complaining or anything, but is today just not working out for some reason?” Lance wasn’t blaming him, but Shiro felt the sharp sting of criticism all the same. 

Honestly, Shiro knew he was doing much worse now than this morning. His head killed and his chest was tight to the point of being uncomfortable. He was trembling and unable to draw in enough breath it seemed through his mouth. His dizziness increased until his team was protecting his back more often than not. Each hit he sustained was worse than the last. He gave up.

“End training sequence” He huffed, beyond exhausted. The bots powered off and the team turned to look at him. He pulled his helmet off, which offered a little relief in the way of pressure on his head and breathing room. He was soaked in sweat, and still shaking. He crossed his arms, hoping they wouldn’t notice.

“Alright guys, let’s end a little bid early today” He tried to say as lightheartedly as possible, but even to his ears it seemed pretty weak, not to mention congested. 

“You ok Shiro? You don’t look all that great” Pidge pulled her own helmet off and tucked it under her arm. 

“What? B’No I’m fi-” He was cut off by yet another sneeze. This one was the most powerful yet, bending his whole frame over.

“He’s not fine. He’s sick” Keith said irritably, crossing his arms and glaring pointedly. 

“Well shit, Shiro. You didn’t have to train if you’re not feeling good” Lance laughed a little.

“I’m fine” Shiro tried it again, but began coughing wet coughs. Now the whole team was looking at him in a concerned way.

“Shiro…” Keith started but Shiro cleared his throat. 

“Anyways, good job team. Dismissed” He turned around and headed out of the training room, missing the rest of them give each other uneasy looks.

~

Shiro started with hot water for his shower, but as it worsened his dizziness and the rapidly increasing nausea in his stomach, he changed it to cold. It felt good on his hot skin as it washed the sweat away, but his body shook harder than before. Now a little too cold with coughs wracking him through, he stepped out of the shower and dressed quickly, barely leaving any time to properly dry off. He was too cold and needed to cover up. He bent to pick up the towel he dropped on the floor.

That was a mistake.

His head rushed and he stumbled, landing on his ass hard. He groaned and hung his head in shame between his knees. He couldn’t summon the energy to lift his exhausted body. He wished he had properly toweled off now. His clothes were sticky against his skin and he was still cold. His eyes drooped closed and he took a few moments to pull his head back together and breathe shallowly through his mouth. 

He jerked when there was a knock on his door. How long had he been sitting there? He wasn’t sure.

He dragged himself to his feet carefully, his head fiercely protesting any movement at this point, and opened the door. Keith stood there with his arms crossed. 

“What’s up?” Shiro tried to sound casual. 

“Just checking that you’re taking it easy” Keith raised an eyebrow as if to say “you are  _ aren’t you _ ?” 

“Yeah Keith, don’t worry about me. I’m fi-” Keith cut him off.

“Stop telling me you’re fine. I don’t believe you and neither do you”

Shiro sighed, leaning on the doorframe.

“What do you want me to say?” He coughed wetly, his attempts to appear okay were crumbling very quickly as his stomach rolled and tumbled. 

Keith rolled his eyes so hard it had to hurt and stepped forward, pushing Shiro gently into the room. Shiro let himself be pushed, mostly because he wasn’t quite sure how he was still standing upright. 

“Alright tough guy, into the bed” Keith murmured, tugging him over to the bed and gently pushing him down into it. Shiro groaned, partly from how good the soft sheets felt, partly because the landing had jostled him and his sensitive head and stomach were NOT happy about it. 

Keith shook his head, “I knew you shouldn’t have gone to training today” and he moved to put his hand on his forehead again. Before he could, Shiro shuddered and wrenched himself up out of the bed and into the bathroom once more, upheaving that three-fourths plate from this morning. He was vaguely aware that Keith was crouching beside him, grimacing as Shiro choked whatever bile was still in his stomach into the low water. He rubbed his back, obviously meaning to be soothing, but the movement was awkward, not being used to having to comfort. 

“All done?” He murmured to Shiro when he finally stopped heaving.

Shiro nodded weakly and pulled back, only for his breathing to hitch up yet again. He barely managed to grab some paper to put in front of his face before exploding. Keith sighed and helped him stand shakily and shuffle back to the bed. 

“Lie down. I’ll bring you some water. Ok?” Keith betrayed his own concern by brushing Shiro’s hair off his sticky forehead and frowning. Shiro thought he nodded but his  body had obviously had enough abuse and slipped him seamlessly into a nightmare. It was the kind that seemed to get stranger and stranger as you slept, but somehow you were still unaware it was all a dream.

Right as his fear and heartbeat seemed to peak, he gasped awake. His eyes caught the edge of 5 figures standing in the dimmed lighting and he almost screamed, his hands both raising to shield himself out of instinct. Keith pulled his hand off Shiro’s shoulder quick and put his hands up in a placating gesture, sitting on the side of the bed.

“Shiro” Keith murmured, low and calming “It’s ok, you’re safe”. Shiro’s heart pounded against his ribcage and he could feel how hot and sweaty he was as he tried to calm his breathing and panicked nerves. 

They gave him time and eventually Shiro coughed weakly, and looked sheepishly around at everyone else, uncomfortable to have them all studying him, especially in such a vulnerable state.

“Sorry about them, I didn’t know how to use Altean thermometers and everyone ended up finding out you were doing worse” Keith seemed genuinely guilty at the amount of people currently staring concerned down at Shiro. He handed Shiro a glass of water, making sure he got at least most of the glass down before setting it aside.

Allura stepped forwards with a small device in her hands. She seemed frightened at Shiro’s state. “Shiro, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know that a “sneeze” was indicative of illness for humans. It’s my fault for not being concerned enough this morning for your health” She looked ashamed. 

Shiro shook his head, grabbing her hand then releasing it quickly, realizing it was probably gross and sweaty “Princess no-” He was cut off by another long, nasty fit of coughing. “No, it’s not your fault. Sneezing doesn’t always mean sickness and you couldn’t have done anything anyways”. She seemed unconvinced, but pressed the small device to the crook of his elbow. It beeped softly and her eyes widened in alarm.

“Is this temperature safe for humans?” She pressed a hand over her mouth. 

Pidge stepped forward and read the number “Let’s see, in Fahrenheit that would beee…” She typed it into her tablet and seemed to do some math “101.9756. Whoah those things are scary accurate” 

Lance made a “Euck” sound at the same time Hunk said “Aw jeez”. Allura seemed exasperated “And that’s… ?” 

“Definitely not normal for humans. But not really dangerous yet. Pretty interesting actually that a space flu would have relatively similar symptoms to Earth flu” Pidge held her hand up to her chin like she was really thinking about it.

“And probably at least as contagious guys” Shiro interjected, “I’d hate to be the reason any of you got sick”. Shiro could handle a fever. He’d done it plenty of times before. Albeit not recently, but no matter. He really was uncomfortable. He was the pillar of support for his team, and them seeing him like this made him feel… not to mention he really would feel guilty if any of them ended up feeling as crappy as he did at the moment.

The team all seemed to share amused chuckles and glances at his attempts though, even Keith. 

“Sorry Shiro, I couldn’t stop them. And this will probably actually be good” Keith gave a small but fond smile. 

“Yeah don’t be dumb Shiro” Pidge snickered, moving to set up on the ground something he didn’t realize she’d had tucked under her arm before. Some kind of device. 

“What?” Shiro smothered yet another awful sounding coughing fit into his elbow, thoroughly confused.

“Like we really care about all that. You don’t know us at all do you fearless leader?” Lance drawled, moving to the left side of Shiro’s bed. “Make room, silly”

Shiro stared as Hunk and Lance clambered onto the bed, closer to the foot, set a bunch of bedding down that Shiro also hadn’t noticed before and lie down sprawled on top of each other in a way that didn’t exactly look comfortable to Shiro, but they didn’t seem to mind. Allura pulled her legs up and her own bedding on the left side of the bed, leaning slightly on Shiro. Once Pidge finished setting up whatever it was she was doing, she crawled onto the bed as well, practically laying on top of Shiro’s legs like a cat and tugging her own blanket on. Then Keith tucked himself into Shiro’s right side with only a pillow, effectively completing the cuddled up pile of paladins and making Shiro feel the most held and somehow… comfy he ever had before.

Then Pidge held up a small remote in her left hand and turned on the projector, displaying on his wall to his amazement, the Star Trek opening, first episode. She smirked, self-satisfactorily at his expression. 

“How did…” He trailed off.

“I had it all downloaded on my laptop when we left Earth” Pidge grinned smugly. “Keith said you’d watch it with us sometime, but it never came up until now”.

“I am also quite excited. I’m eager to see what human entertainment is like and I have been informed that this is a good example” Allura settled in next to Shiro’s side. If she, or the others for that matter, were bothered by the heat he knew was radiating off of him, no one said so.

Shiro’s eyes stung unexpectedly. He quickly blinked to dispel the moisture gathered there, but his voice still shook with emotion. “Guys… I don’t know what to say.” He loved his team. They’d stood up when he was really truthfully feeling terrible with unwavering and hearty support. In the soft lighting the projection cast over them, he could see them one by one turn and look back at him with a smile.

“Don’t say anything, it’s starting!” 

So he didn’t, just slipped one arm around Pidge’s small form and the other around Keith and sat back, content and surrounded by his small, space family and already feeling better for it.


End file.
